With the media all in an uproar over the “obesity problem”, I thought I’d share a pennyweight of my opinion on this.
In looking over photos taken from long ago [1], obesity is not the plague the media attempts to paint it. See, in those old photos, I know from a vantage of time that all of those people are dead [2]. The thinner ones whose pictures were taken even as recently as the 60’s looked old even when they were teens. I’m 60 and look younger than many of them. That’s kind of wrong. And I know the ones who were thin died at younger ages than those who were well-built. Not hugely fat, but definitely considered obese by today’s anorexic standards.
They died of pneumonia, of colds and flus, of contagious diseases, of cancers the bulkier people survived. Sure the heavier ones died of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, but they died older and generally healthier than the skinny ones did. Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure are all controllable, and those who get them still live long, fruitful lives.
There is no single properly conducted study that indicates obese people die younger.
People who hold a comfortable weight [3], are active, eat decently, and generally take care of their health tend to live longer, happier lives than people who are constantly dieting, constantly fretting they’ve gained 2 ounces. The comfortably weighted people (if they haven’t bought into the obesity hysteria) [4], tended to contract contagious diseases less often, took fewer prescription medications, survived cancer at a higher rate, looked younger, and lived longer than the “ideally” weighted people [5].
I can add that from personal experience, when I was a size 5, I was diagnosed with cancer and because I was the “ideal” weight, I almost died because the expected weight loss with cancer treatment left me weighing 52 pounds. My doctor advised me to gain enough weight to maintain a size 16-18 so if I relapsed and the cancer came back, I would have a better chance of surviving it. I did, the cancer came back, and while I lost a lot of weight during the treatment, I never lost below 90 pounds. I admit I sometimes have to struggle to keep my weight up, but I am younger looking, healthier, with greater physical strength and stamina than I ever had when my average weight was below 100 pounds.
At 60, I can hike up a mountain and back, run a 10K race in under 2 hours, do heavy yardwork, help friends move (books, even!), outwalk practically anyone I know, lift my bodyweight regularly, and spend an entire con or RenFaire without sleep and not be exhausted at the end of it. While I was never unhealthy (except for the cancer), once I gained a moderate amount of weight, I was even healthier. I expect to live actively for at least another 40-60 years, as long as I can maintain my “obese” status.
In my own family, those of my ancestors who weighed heavier lived to be 100 or more years old while the thin ones died before they were 50.
This isn’t to say everyone should gain weight and do so now, quickly, before they died. Some people feel better at a thinner weight and are healthier, but that isn’t so for everyone. What I am – radically – suggesting, is that people shouldn’t be harrassed for their weight, either over or under (although I worry more about thin people than I do heavier people).
Weight has very little to do with actual health and longevity.
Hitting the extremes of the spectrum – a size 0 or into the negative sizes, for example, or a size XXXXL or greater – can be, but isn’t necessarily, unhealthy.
Younger people should be thinner than the older people because they burn off more energy, but as they age, the weight can act as a protection against many of the ills of aging.
Not to mention, if you are thin as a young person and add weight as you age, the fat fills in the wrinkles to keep you younger looking. Vain people take a note – mild weight gain smooths your skin better than botox and plastic surgery.
We live longer, we’re healthier, we look younger, and we’re fatter than ever before in history.
Why would we want to look like old skinny boys and die young?
Viva le fat!
[1] pictures found on the web, in old journals and magazines, reviewing old movies, and from friends’ photo albums and old yearbooks
[2] I didn’t look at pictures of people still living
[3] a 6 foot man weighing 200-230 pounds or a 5′5″ woman weighing 150-180 pounds
[4] based on personal research into the causes of death and their ages and known medical history of 3,008 “obese” people who were born, achieved adulthood, and died before 2000
[5] based on personal research into the causes of death, their ages at death, and known medical history of 2,716 “ideally” weighted people who were born, achieved adulthood, and died before 2000
